Sunday, July 5, 2015

2015 MLB All Star Starting Rosters Released




Time to Take a Waiver on Neftali Feliz?


The Texas Rangers turned a few heads this weekend when the team decided to designate relief pitcher and former Rookie of the Year Neftali Feliz. Matt Harrison was activated after a long DL stint with a back injury which led to the designation of Feliz and now Texas has ten days to either pass the RHP through waivers or trade him. Could the Rangers loss be the Yankees gain?

Feliz has posted a 4.58 ERA in 19.2 innings pitched this season while posting a 4.15 FIP and a 1.678 WHIP. Feliz has managed just an 88 ERA+ due to 11.0 H/9 and 0.9 HR/9 explaining why the Rangers decided to give up on the 27 year old right hander. Feliz is a free agent in 2017 and has one more year of arbitration eligibility next season making him somewhat of a reclamation project. Feliz is only one season removed from posting a 1.99 ERA with 13 saves in 2014 but injuries, ineffectiveness and  moving back and forth between the starting rotation and the bullpen has seemingly derailed the career of Feliz unfortunately.

Would Feliz be a good minor league signing? Sure he would, there's no such thing as a bad minor league deal. Would Feliz come in on a minor league deal? Not likely. Is Feliz going to clear waivers for the Yankees to sign him to a minor league deal with the Rangers pay his $4.13 million salary? Nope, so the Yankees won't sign Feliz unfortunately and hope for the change of scenery.

Game Thread: New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays 7/5


The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays will finish off their three game set this weekend in the Bronx this afternoon. This has been a great weekend series and has been a great way to ring in the independence of the greatest country in the world and I expect nothing less than another great matchup this afternoon. The Yankees will skip CC Sabathia today and send Ivan Nova to the mound to face off with the Rays starter Erasmo Ramirez. The game will be played at 1:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

After this afternoon the Yankees have just three games left in the Bronx against the Oakland Athletics before traveling to Fenway Park to face off with the Boston Red Sox. Get your Yankees tickets for this series, the Boston series or any series this season by clicking the Yankees Tickets link at the top of the blog. If you can't make it to the Bronx to watch the team live then jump on Twitter (@GreedyStripes) or the comments section of the site to interact with us during each and every Yankees game this season.

CC is in dugout and Nova is on the mound so I'm ready to go watch a Yankees win. Go Yankees!

The Truth Behind the CC Sabathia Decision


The New York Yankees have decided to move CC Sabathia back from this afternoon's start against the Tampa Bay Rays to Wednesday's start against the Oakland Athletics. The line of reasoning from the Yankees and from manager Joe Girardi  was that CC was working on things with Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild in his bullpen sessions and the team wanted to give him a few extra days to work on things and figure things out. If you believe that line of reasoning after watching Sabathia pitch this season and if you believe that line of reasoning after looking at the upcoming schedule then I really don't know what to say to you. The Yankees fans are the smartest and most passionate in the world in my opinion and I think we all see through that blatant lie.

Sabathia has easily been the Yankees worst starter this season, both statistically and by the eye test, and the team wants to limit the amount of big starts he makes for the remainder of the season. If the Yankees kept to their current pitching lineup before the All-Star break Sabathia would have faced the Rays this afternoon and the Boston Red Sox next week. With the move to Wednesday the Yankees would have Sabathia face off against the Oakland Athletics and would not have another start until after the All-Star break.

New York could then turn the rotation over after the break with Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda making the first two starts after the break against the Seattle Mariners with CC making the third start. Starting CC in the series finale allows the big lefty to miss the Baltimore Orioles while Nathan Eovaldi and Nova start the series with their American League East rivals. The Yankees want CC to miss the better teams in the American League for the rest of this season and that all begins today with him missing the start against the Rays. It's great news and the only chance the Yankees have at making the playoffs.

Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays 7/5


The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays will face off head-to-head this afternoon in the finale of their three game weekend series inside Yankee Stadium. The Yankees slugged their way to a victory on Friday night with a walk-off Brian McCann home run and the fireworks kept ringing all weekend long for the Yankees. This afternoon the Yankees look to keep the good times rolling when they send Ivan Nova to the mound to face off against the Rays starter Erasmo Ramirez. The game will be played at 1:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.


  • Nova will be making this afternoon's start in place of CC Sabathia on regular rest rather than extra rest but more on that later. Nova has looked great in his two starts coming off the disabled list against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Philadelphia Phillies and looks to keep that going this afternoon in the Bronx. 



  • Ramirez has made one start since coming off the disabled list with a groin strain allowing one run on two hits in 5.2 innings. Ramirez was a tough-luck loser in the contest despite striking out seven batters. Ramirez has faced the Yankees one other time in his career and earned his first victory of 2015 in the contest. 


The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays finish their series off in just a couple hours before the team stays home to play host to the Oakland Athletics. The Yankees need to take advantage of this little break in the schedule and need to win games, bottom line. Go Yankees!

TGP Daily Poll: Yankees Have Two All-Stars


All-Star Game rosters will be announced on Sunday and finalized by Monday with the pitching and every team has to have at least one representative. The Yankees will have at least two in outfielder Brett Gardner and relief pitcher Dellin Betances.

Brett Gardner
Year G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
2015 74 327 59 86 21 3 9 39 15 31 65 .300 .373 .488 .860 137
Dellin Betances
Year W L ERA G GF SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9
2015 4 1 1.11 36 11 7 40.2 16 8 5 0 18 66 359 1.31 0.836 3.5 0.0 4.0 14.6
Vote in our prediction poll on Knoda.com and check out the stats of these two players above:

Weekly Check In: Luis Severino


The New York Yankees have all of a sudden gotten aggressive with their top prospects which was evident by the promotions of Greg Bird most recently, Aaron Judge a few weeks back and the man who started it all, Luis Severino. Severino has made seven starts now with the Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders and has posted an impressive 4-0 record in those seven starts. Severino has already thrown more innings in Scranton this season then he did in Tampa and Trenton in 2014 and more than he threw in Trenton in 2015.

Severino doesn't look challenged or in need of more grooming in Scranton and may be on his way up to the Bronx after the All-Star break. Severino could be a starter and fill in for the likes of CC Sabathia or he could join an already potent bullpen that New York is assembling. Either way Severino doesn't seem long for the minor leagues and that is exciting for all us Yankees fans.

YearLevWLERAGSIPHRERHRBBSOWHIPH9HR9BB9SO9
2015AAA-AA622.611579.1602823222761.0346.80.22.58.6
2015AA223.32838.0321714210481.1057.60.52.411.4
2015AAA401.96741.128119012280.9686.10.02.66.1

This Day in New York Yankees History 7/5: Roger Clemens 3000th K


On this day in 1998 future Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens struck out then Devil Ray Randy Winn for his 3,000th strike out of his career. Roger would become only the 11th player to ever reach the plateau when he did it in a Toronto Blue Jays jersey.